Wheel of Time

"Without fear, without hesitation and without effort, divine gestures, unknown dance movements and songs never heard before will spring forth from the expanse of the Mind." ~ Kalachakra Tantra ~

Origins of Danza Duende Project

by Yumma Mudra

This project arose spontaneously while progressing with my work and beginning to move away from the existing dance forms. It therefore cannot be classified.

Taking into account my own artistic and personal experience, as a dancer, human being and woman, I started to look for a way to share my experience with my many students.

My profound admiration for traditional dances, martial arts and inner work, my basic training in classical dance and commitment to the millennial spiritual way, all combined to form a new approach to dance.

The purpose is not to create a new style or another clone. On the contrary the aim is to reinstate a sacred and simple vision of Dance, which encourages unlimited personal creativity.

The point is to emancipate oneself from limited concepts. Deep freedom is born from essential discipline and great kindness.

To teach the DUENDE, we open ourselves in order to get in contact with the present rather than reproducing a set technique. We learn to use the miracles and pain of our lives as a medium of transmutation. The entire process is improvised using the real being of the participants, the movement, the present moment, the environment, the teacher(s). That is what we call “to get into the flow”, i.e. Duende.

The work structure is based on an emotional aspect or a special feeling chosen beforehand, all depending on the qualities we wish to invite and develop.

Without tending towards intellectual or philosophical concepts, we live our inquiry as it appears. While mixing with the group we don't deny our own individual autonomy. It is quite a lonely journey, sometimes difficult, sometimes euphoric, in which one can experience extraordinary encounters with oneself as well as with others.

It is important to clearly state that the goal is to approach dance with a professional attitude in mind. I do not intend to present this as a therapy or a spiritual path, even though some of these elements may or may not be developed along the way.

It is desirable in the context of this quest to include various techniques of movement and personal development.

This will allow Duende Dance to evolve and adapt to the needs of those who study it, who will broaden its horizons with their own inspirations.

The door is open universally to collaboration. The aim is to institute an attitude of dignity and humility in the instructional realm and artistic society. (We can say good-bye to competitive meanness and the “suicidal artist” mythology.)